Securing Computer Systems For Supporting Digital Democracy

Digital democracy

Due to globalisation and digitalisation, the popularity of the internet and online based services has increased substantially. Individuals and organisations rely on the internet to perform their operations which result in improving the efficiency of operations. Along with the popularity of online-based systems, the risks relating to computer systems have increased as well. As the risks of cyber-attacks increased across the globe, the importance of cyber security measures has increased as well. In recent years, the popularity of the concept of digital democracy has been growing especially among developing nations. As per Van Dijk (2012), it is referred to a form of government in which it is expected that each individual has the ability to participate equally in the process of proposal, development, and creation of laws. This concept is gaining highlight as the number of internet users has increased throughout the world because it has the ability to influence a large number of people along with government organisations. Brown and Nicholas (2012) provided that the governments in different countries are also supporting digital democracy since it results in increasing the engagement of public which leads to the creation of effective laws in the country. People can simply make their contribution to the process while sitting at their home or office through the internet. They can also argue over the laws created by the government based on their merits and demerits in order to find innovative solutions. Although this concept has the capability of benefiting a large number of people, however, there are various security-related issues as well. While supporting digital democracy, corporations face issues relating to computer security which increases the challenges for the government and individuals. This report will research on the challenges faced by governments regarding securing their computer systems while supporting digital democracy. Furthermore, this report will research regarding the security measures which can be taken by them in order to improve the security of their computer systems to support digital democracy.

1. Is adequate security systems are adopted by the government organisations to ensure that security of computer systems which supports digital democracy is secured?
2. What are the challenges faces by government organisations regarding the security of computer systems while supporting digital democracy?
3. Which security measures can be taken by government organisations to improve the security of computer systems while supporting digital democracy?

Digital democracy is also called e-democracy in uses information and computer technology (ICT) in order to promote democracy between countries. As per Himma and Tavani (2008), this concept is focused on enabling a free and equal practice of political self-determination based citizens to increase their involvement in the process. The technology assists in establishing a greater electronic community which has appropriate access to political processes along with choices of policies in the country. As per Prasad (2012), this technology is developed by a connection of various complex internal factors which affects citizen and political norms, and it is also affected by the general moral of democracy. Thus, there are various internal and external factors which result in affecting the promotion of digital democracy across the globe. In many countries, pressure is created by people over the government to adopt more policies which other states or countries have regarding policies. Andreotti and Pashby (2013) provided that due to the digital framework, people have access to information regarding governmental policies and official at their fingertips which makes it convenient for them communicate regarding them and promote their opinions. The governments also understand the importance of digital democracy, and they focus on implementing appropriate computer system in order to promote and support e-democracy in their respective countries. It is a government of future in which the participation of people will be higher than the current structure which is more likely to address social challenges and reduce issues such as corruption, bribery, and others.

Security challenges related to digital democracy

Although many people and organisations support the promotion of digital democracy, however, many experts have argued against this based on the challenges related to it. Primarily, there are various cyber security related issues relating to the technology because of its heavy reliance on computer system. Oates (2005) provided that without implementation of computer systems, it is not possible for the government to support the promotion of digital democracy. Like every internet-based system, the computer system used in the e-democracy can also be hacked by cyber criminals. There are a number of cyber security related issues linked to the use of digital democracy which results in increasing challenges for the governmental organisations and people. The operating system, software and web browser which are used by the government are integral parts of their computer system. In case they become out of data, then it gives opportunity for malware to place inside the system and hacks the servers. As per Himma and Tavani (2008), security is the primary concern of governmental organisations along with commercial businesses such as banks and financial institutes. Hansson, Belkacem, and Ekenberg (2015) argued that computer security is the primary objective of the computer system experts, however, guaranteed protection from malware and other security threats is not possible. Due to threats relating to cyber security, it has become difficult for governments to support digital democracy since it becomes easier for citizens to participate in proposing, developing, creating and amending laws in the country.

One of the biggest security concerns related to digital democracy is the risk of hacking of the computer systems which result in breaching the system and stopping the operations. Cyber criminals focus on hacking into the computer system in order to get unauthorised access to the data, system, and servers. The objective of hacking is to gain personal advantage by violating the privacy of users by collecting their private data. According to Helbing and Pournaras (2015), cyber criminals continuously focus on implementing policies to find the vulnerabilities of the system, network or servers to gain unauthorised access. The access enables them to collect all the data from the servers which include personal information regarding users as well. Furthermore, they can also influence the results of the polls or vote as fake users in order to influence the results according to their wants. As per Nawaz and Khan (2012), while supporting digital democracy, it is important that computer systems are secured from hacking to avoid influencing the results. Since the digital democracy is linked with politics and legislation related matters the importance of cyber security increases because hacking into the servers can lead to affecting a large number of people. According to Gillespie (2013), cyber criminals can find potential loopholes to gain access to the computer system after which they can influence the voting system. Since people can directly make their contributions regarding proposal, amendment or formation of laws, cyber criminals can change the number of votes to promote the law which supports them. It makes it difficult for the government to find out the actual voting count which was easier to find in traditional democracy.

Hacking of computer systems

However, there are various contradictory views given by experts regarding this topic which creates a gap in the literature and findings. McChesney (2013) argued that although the threat of hacking is substantially high, however, appropriate measures are taken by governmental and non-government organisations to address these issues as well. Along with technological advancements, the risk of cyber-attacks is getting lower as well, especially on governmental organisations. Moss and Coleman (2014) provided that more and more government organisations are becoming aware of the risk of cyber-attacks, and they are investing in improving their security infrastructure to address this issue. As per the research of the Department of Energy, the National Labs are focusing on strengthening the capability of government partnerships in order to improve the cyber security infrastructure. Gleich and Seshadhri (2012) provided that these labs are building scientific foundations of cyber and network science which are focused towards helping the private and governmental sector in protecting their critical information. DOE’e LDRD program has been a key contributor in developing new concepts which are focused towards improving the cyber security infrastructure of government agencies. However, the research also admits that the current approach to cyber security is not sustainable and it is not adequate to protect the data of organisations. Salter (2013) provided that the rapidly evolving information network environment assists in promoting digital democracy in countries, however, it also results in increasing the vulnerability of mobility and cloud. Due to convergence and proliferation, the risk of cyber-attacks has increased substantially due to which government and non-government organisations are not secured.

The number of cyber-attacks which are made on the government and other related organisations have doubled in 2016 which poses new challenges for implementation of digital democracy. As per the study of Chen and Bridges (2017), more than 76 percent of local government organisations in the United Kingdom have suffered virus attack whereas over 86 percent have suffered phishing attack in 2017. These studies prove that governmental organisations did not have enough resources to protect themselves from cyber-attacks or hacking and support of digital democracy will also result in increasing challenges for the government organisations. Since various political and social agendas are involved in the digital democracy, implementation of its lead to increasing the changes of Hacktivism attacks. Hacktivists are referred as modern day activists who use computer system and internet to protest regarding social or political factors. According to Oates (2005), Hacktivists protest against a party or government order by hacking into the servers of the government or its officials to leak their private data to the public. For example, ‘Anonymous’ is a globe hacktivists organisation which hacks in order to support or promote political agendas. Goode (2015) provided that the group targeted the Church of Scientology in 2008 by hacking their website and flooding their fax machines with black faxes. Furthermore, the group has also hacked into the website of the United States government to protest against the F.B.I. As per Simsek and Simsek (2013), these attacks are more dangerous than compared to other hacking attacks because the objective of these groups is to destroy the reputation and financial state of the organisations or people who they hack whereas other hackers wanted to generate personal benefits. Thus, governmental organisations have to deal with Hacktivism attacks while supporting digital democracy in the country.

Contradictory views

Since the digital democracy is supported by smartphones, the risk of malware attacks will increase. People contribute their votes regarding proposal, developing, amending and forming of regulations in digital democracy mostly through their smartphones which enables them to contribute to the process. In this system, all individuals are treated equally, and they can easily contribute based on their electronic identification. As per Leitold et al. (2016), due to heavy reliance on smartphones, the risk of malware attacks will increase which is still common among users. By using malware, cyber criminals can gain access to the data of users which is stored in their smartphones locally or in the cloud. They can also use DDoS (Distributed denial of service) attack to restrict their usage on the smartphone and gain access to their operations. According to Chen (2013), after gaining access to the operations of their smartphone, cyber criminals can make a contribution to the process of digital democracy which affects the overall voting result in the country. Furthermore, they can use malware such as Ransomware to blackmail people in order to change their votes or contribution to the digital democracy process. Agawu (2017) provided that cyber criminals can put pressure on the public through Ransomware by collecting their private data and pressuring them to do as they want. All these factors result in increasing challenges faced by the government regarding the security of computer system while supporting digital democracy. Without addressing these challenges, it is difficult for governmental organisations to implement a worldwide digital democracy program.

However, many experts have opposite views regarding this statement. They argue that due to the fear of cyber-attacks and data breach, it is not right to stop the development of technology which has the potential to benefit the society for a long period of time. De Cindio (2012) argued that the promotion of digital democracy would result in improving the legislative framework in a country since people will be able to participate in the process of proposing, developing, amending and creating the laws in the country. The government should support and promote programs like this in order to ensure that more people can take advantage of them in order to support the legislation system in the country. Still, there are various malware across the globe which affects smartphones and their users; however, it did not stop people from using their phones. Freeman and Quirke (2013) argued that rather than governments should not stop supporting digital democracy, rather they should improve their cyber security infrastructure in order to protect the data of users from cyber criminals while using e-democracy. As per Margolis and Moreno-Riano (2016), the government should increase the investment in improving their current security system to ensure that they are protected from the cyber-attacks of illegal organisations. It will result in promoting the digital democracy framework while ensuring the security of the computer system.

Cybersecurity measures taken by governmental organizations

In order to address cyber security issues, there are various security measures which can be taken by governmental organisations to ensure that security of the computer system while supporting digital democracy. According to Ellison and Hardey (2014), the potential of hacking the computer systems is one of the biggest threat faces by governmental organisations while supporting a digital democracy framework. In order to address this issue, they have to improve their cyber security framework by implementing various upgraded tools which can protect the servers and systems from cyber-attacks. Roman and Miller (2013) provided that firstly, increasing the budget of cyber security should be the objective of governmental organisations to ensure that they have enough resources to prepare themselves regarding avoiding the cyber-attacks on the computer system. It will also assist them in ensuring that they have the latest equipment and software which is crucial for protecting the computer system from cyber criminals. As per Van der Meer, Gelders and Rotthier (2014), the resources should be invested by organisations in establishing a computer system framework which is focused towards addressing the risk of hacking. In order to achieve this target, securing the IT infrastructure should be the first priority of the organisation.

According to Whitman and Mattord, more than 60 percent of the cyber-attacks are caused due to insider threat. Mostly, negligence or carelessness of employees and officers result in increasing the chances of cyber-attacks. Furthermore, employees can also engage with cyber criminals to hack into the servers of the organisations. Thus, it is important that the computer infrastructures and servers are kept in a safe place where only authorised personnel can access. Moreover, they should be prohibited to take any of the outside equipment such as pen drive or hard disk near the computer system without appropriate permission. As per Slgaia and Marinidis (2012), until a highly secured computer system facility is established by government organisations, it is difficult to support digital democracy in the country. Other than physically access, the cyber criminals also access and hack into the data of corporations through online mediums. According to Akrivopoulou (2013), since the computer system is connected to a network, cyber criminals hack into such network to gain unauthorised access to the servers and collect its data. In order to address this issue, the governmental organisations are required to invest in establishing the latest antiviruses and firewalls.

Implementation of these software results in protecting the computer system which collects the data of users from cyber-attacks. They stop any potential cyber-criminal who is using viruses such as Trojan or DDoS to breach the security of the servers. As per Nchise (2012), upgraded antiviruses assist in protecting the computer system from any viruses which cyber criminals use to breach the security of the servers. Similarly, firewalls protect the computer system from unauthorised access and ensure that the cyber criminals did not breach the security of the computer system. Liden (2013) provided that another key security measures for the protection of the computer system are the encryption of data. Generally, cyber criminals access the confidential data while the organisation is transmitting it because it is most vulnerable at the time. The government organisations can encrypt their data by which they convert it into secret codes which can only be accessed through a key. Lindner, Aichholzer, and Hennen (2016) provided that in case the cyber criminals collect the encrypted data, then in order to decrypt it, they have to get the key as well which protect the privacy of data. By using this method, the governmental organisations can support digital democracy by ensuring that the data is secured from any outside interference and changes which ensure its authenticity.

Increasing risks and challenges

In conclusion, the popularity of digital democracy has proliferated due to increase in the number of internet and smartphone users. This concept promotes the engagement of people in the process of proposing, developing, amending and creating laws in the country. However, there are various security related issues linked to computer systems which are necessary for supporting digital democracy in the country. The government has not implemented appropriate measures to address these issues. Many challenges such as hacking, malware, Hacktivism and others result in increasing issues for implementation of a digital democracy framework in the country in which every citizen can contribute equally. These challenges affect the authenticity of the online procedure and enable the cyber criminals to access the confidential data of the government and individuals that defeats the purpose of establishing the digital democracy. In order to address these issues, there are various security measures which can be taken by the government organisations. These measures improve the cyber security of governmental organisations and protect their data from breaching which assist them in supporting digital democracy. The security measures include physical protection of computer system, antivirus, firewalls, and encryption of data. By effectively address the security issues relating to the computer system, the government organisations can support digital democracy and implement it at a global stage.

In this section, the research problem involves various methods and strategies related to the research such as philosophy, data collection methods, approach, research, and design. All these factors assist the researcher in obtaining effective data regarding resolving the research issues. The purpose of this section is to develop the understanding of security issues faced by governmental organisations related to computer system while supporting digital democracy in the country. To collect information regarding this topic, various journal articles will be analysed in the report to maintain a balance between the research topic and the associated information. The objective of this comprehensive methodology is to improve the research quality and while maintaining the reliability and validity of the research data while implementing different sources of facts and figures.

For this research, the researcher will use a mixed research design in order to increase the overall quality and authenticity of the research. In this research design, the characteristics of both quantitative and qualitative design will be used. In the case of qualitative research design, the information about people’s belief regarding the supporting of digital democracy by the governmental organisations will be analysed. In case of quantitative research design, the researcher will measure the number of participants involved in the survey and compare them to achieve an appropriate conclusion. An interview will be conducted with government officials to understand whether the computer systems are competent to handle the issues related to cyber security while supporting digital democracy. Thus, this research design will assist the researcher in accomplishing the goals of the research within the specified time frame.

Hacktivism attacks

For this research, a survey will be conducted by using questionnaire which will assist the researcher in collecting the feedback of public regarding supporting of digital democracy with all the security issues related to it. An interview of government officials will also be used to collect data regarding this research and to understand their views. Based on this research design, the researcher will collect first hand and fresh information regarding the research since it will directly collected from the participant. The questionnaire will be prepared by using Microsoft office, and it will be sent to participants through their email addresses.

Along with the survey and interview, a literature review will be conducted by the researcher in order to accomplish the objective of the research. The literature review will research based on secondary resources such as journal articles, books, offline and online sources, and reports on cyber-attacks in order to collect in-depth information regarding the research topic. Based on this literature review, the researcher will collect theoretical information regarding the security challenges which governmental organisations face while supporting digital democracy and the security measures which can be taken by them in order to improve the security of computer systems. Based on this strategy, the researcher will be able to obtain reliable data regarding the topic which will assist in reaching a valid outcome.

The procedure used by the researcher for data collection is important since it assists in reaching to the objectives of the research by gathering crucial data effectively and efficiently. Primary and secondary are two main types of data which are collected by the researcher for the research. In this research, both primary and secondary data will be collected by the researcher. The primary data will be collected through the questionnaire prepared by the researcher which will be distributed through emails. The interview will also be used for collection of primary data in the research. Furthermore, the secondary data will be collected through a number of resources such as journals, articles, books, websites, offline and online sources and other academic publications. These data collection methods selected by the researcher are effective for this research since they will assist in collecting authentic and reliable data with less time and resources.

For this research, the probability sampling procedure will be used by the researcher because the research topic is subjective in nature. In the research, random data sampling method will be selected by the researcher in which the data will be selected on random basis. This method assists in eliminating the biases from the research based on choosing the respondents involved in the research. On the other hand, the researcher will avoid using a non-probability sampling method while conducting the research because it can result in causing biases in the research based on the selection of the participants for the research.

Conclusion

In order to conduct this research, a questionnaire will be sent to 40 government officials in the field of cyber security to collect their feedback regarding the topic of the research. An interview will also be held with those 40 officials in order to collect their views regarding the topic. Furthermore, the questionnaire will also be sent to general public who used their smartphone on a daily basis and who are active on social and political matters through social media sites. These selections of these officials and people will be conducted based on geographical areas which will enable the researcher to gather relevant data along with facts and figures regarding the topic of the research. Moreover, this group will assist the researcher in increasing the reliability of the research along with the validity of data which will assist in achieving the research goals and reaching an accurate outcome.

Data analysis is considered as a crucial part of the research methodology because it influences the reliability of consistency of the results. The data analysis technique is used by the researcher to interpret and access the information which is collected from primary and secondary sources in order to obtain relevant information for the research. The researcher can select from different methods of data analysis technique to find out the most suitable method for the particular research such as statistical analysis, conversational analysis, content analysis and disclosure analysis. For this research, statistical analysis will be used by the researcher in order to interpret and access the data collected during the research. In this technique, the researcher will use Microsoft Excel in order to obtain reliable and valid outcome of the research. Microsoft Excel will assist the researcher in presenting the information of the research in different tables, charts, and graphs. By use of these tools, it will be effective for the readers to understand the information comprehensively presented by the researcher.

This above mentioned detailed plan is set up for nine weeks in which different steps will be taken by the researcher to conduct the research and prepare the report. The research will begin from 14^th September; during the first three days, the research problem will be identified. In the rest three days, the researcher will detect the background of the research. From 22^rd September, the literature review will be prepared by the researched by evaluating a wide range of literature. This process will go on till 6^th October. From 7^th to 13^th October, the researcher will conduct the survey. The researcher will identify any gap which exists in the collected data by matching it with the background of the research problem from 15^th to 20^th October. On 22^nd October, the feedback from participants will be collected through e-mail and a waiting period is set till 31^st October. The process of data analysis will begin from 1^st November, and the process of report preparation will start. From 8^th to 14^th November, changes will be made in the report after proofreading. Finally, in between 15^th to 20^st November, the report will be submitted.

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